Bloodtype Online
For the best of the Horror/Cult/Exploitation film experience
The Last Horror Film (1982)
In 1980 a horror legend was born with the release of Bill Lustig’s classic serial killer flick “Maniac” and that legend was Joe Spinell. Sure Spinell was known in Hollywood circles for his mainstream work in films like “The Godfather” and “Rocky” but he would forever be imbedded in horror fans minds with “Maniac”. He plays the character of Frank Zito, which would become gold as Spinell would pour his heart and soul into the role to make it as authentic as possible. When it comes to actors playing psychopath’s there might never have been a role played better in my opinion. So obviously there was some attempt to get Joe back into that type of role again, which he basically does here in “The Last Horror Film” or as it’s been known in the past “Fanatic”.
“The Last Horror Film” is centered around the character of Vinny (Joe Spinell) who is a New York City cab driver who’s dream in life is to get into films. Vinny has a strong obsession with an actress named Jana Bates (Caroline Munro) and will do anything to get her into the starring role of his film. To do so he has to actually follow her to the Cannes Film Festival where she’s doing promotion, to no avail. Upon blowing off Vinny members of Jana’s entourage start disappearing one by one and the cops won’t help because they think it’s a publicity stunt. Will Jana escape Cannes with her life or we she be stalked and murdered by the deranged Vinny?
I had heard about this film for sometime although it managed to escape my movie collection for sometime. The only way you could see the movie prior to it’s new DVD release was on home video and I never managed to get the “Fanatic” VHS. After watching it though I’m thrilled that I got to see it and I have to say I was a bit surprised by the film itself. For years I had heard that the movie wasn’t nearly as good as “Maniac” and it was disappointing, but I personally didn’t think so. Sure, it’s not nearly as good as “Maniac” but that’s a classic to me so I wasn’t really expecting that anyways. What you actually get here is a film that actually spends more time in the head of Vinny, compared to the lack of that in “Maniac”. I also really enjoyed how they used the consistent comparison of the Vinny character and John Hinkley (who attempted to assassinate President Reagan in 1981) as it showed the movie was trying to add something to the backstory without really having to do much to achieve that.
Caroline Munro also stars aside Spinell here as the lovely actress Jana Bates. Most of her scenes are comprised of her actually at Cannes waving to crowds of people. Sure she has dialog and some other pieces in the movie but Spinell is the one generally eating up the screen time since the movie was centered around him. In the end you really don’t get to know the actress any better than the Vinny character but I’m thinking that was actually done on purpose.
The movie itself was made up of a lot of stock footage from the Cannes Film Festival as well. Stars like Karen Black, Isabel Adjani and Cathy Lee Crosby appear in the film uncredited as they were shot in Cannes by the film crew. This is actually a way of giving the appearance that there is money in the picture but everything else suffers so bad because they just wanted to make a movie when they were hanging out at the festival.
The story of the film itself is pretty simple and easy to follow but it does lack a certain bit of ambition. This movie didn’t properly use Joe Spinell as an actor like “Maniac” did but these are two totally different situations in all honesty. There may have been moments where Bill Lustig could pull in the reigns a bit when it came to Joe, but it wasn’t happening on this movie for sure.
The folks at Troma Entertainment have put together quite the nice DVD for “The Last Horror Film” as it comes complete with audio commentary by Spinell’s manager Luke Walter, the short film “Maniac 2" aka “Mr. Robbie”, an interview with Bill Lustig, a half hour interview with Spinell’s best friend, theatrical trailer, Joe Spinell filmography, tromatic extras, and even an introduction to the film from Lloyd Kaufman.
Overall I would say that this is a must own for fans of Joe Spinell as the extras here are very solid. The movie itself is alright for the most part and might be better than what a lot of people are expecting. I found Joe Spinell to be quite engaging in this one even at times where the movie wasn’t very interesting, which says a lot about the man. RECOMMENDED.
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
